Crews at the Big Bar rock slide are working on building and opening up road access to better help transport fish past the slide site.

On NL Newsday, Incident Commander Sarah Murdoch says she is hoping that the previously identified road from the fish capture site to the French Creek area upstream, on the Fraser River will be operation in the next week or two.

“Right now every fish we’re able to catch, we are able to bring it over by helicopter,”she said. “The road will also help in the medium to longer term permanent restoration work we can do to continue to make that accessible for salmon. We hope to use it the short and the longer term through this project.”

Murdoch says about 6,700 salmon have been able to swim past the slide site on their own using the channels created by rock manipulation and blasting.

That’s in addition to the over 39,000 salmon moved past the slide site using helicopters.

The helicopters are transporting oxygenated tanks filled with salmon. The fish are also being collected with a fish wheel brought in by the Kitsumkalum Band, one of several local First Nations assisting the province and the DFO with the operations.

“I think everyday brings sort of different conditions as it comes to sort of water levels and wind and getting people in and out of the site,” Murdoch added.

The province says archaeological values and cultural heritage resources remain a priority during road construction and all other operations near the rock slide.